Tampering Charge Delays Rape Trial of Lawman’s Son

The rape trial of an Orange County assistant sheriff’s son and two others, scheduled to begin Monday, has been postponed because the defense has alleged evidence tampering and moved for dismissal.

At issue is a videotape purported to show the 2002 rape of a 16-year-old girl by Kyle Joseph Nachreiner, 19, Keith James Spann, 19, and Gregory Haidl, 18, son of Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl. Defense attorneys said 17 minutes and 38 seconds are missing.

“It shouldn’t take a house falling on anyone to figure out that [prosecutors] have not played fairly along the way in this case,” attorney Joseph G. Cavallo wrote in the motion filed Friday in Orange County Superior Court.

“This is cavalier misconduct, pure and simple -- not simple run-of-the-mill negligence.”

The deputy district attorney prosecuting the case could not be reached for comment. However, Susan Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office told City News Service that “the tape hasn’t been tampered with. It’s in the exact condition as when the police received it.”

Prosecutors nonetheless asked for time to counter the defense challenge, prompting Judge Francisco P. Briseno to reschedule the trial for April 19. He also set aside four days beginning March 16 to hear arguments on the motion to dismiss.

“The proffered videotape contains artifacts which demonstrate beyond doubt that [it] has been altered,” Cavallo wrote. Specifically, he said, the erased portion contained “events which were recorded and which provide a context” showing that “the defendants’ and alleged victim’s actions ... were consensual.”

The motion included declarations by two forensic video experts -- Joseph Micalizzi and Jerry Goffe -- attesting that frame-by-frame examinations of the videotape supported Cavallo’s argument. “In my expert opinion,” Micalizzi wrote, “the tape has been tampered with, and scenes have been deleted.”

The tape, which is in the custody of the Newport Beach Police Department, is said to show the July 5, 2002, rape of the girl in the garage of the elder Haidl’s Corona del Mar home.

The three teens, all from the Rancho Cucamonga area, could each face up to 55 years in prison.